Abstract
Cardiovascular disease is the major cause of death worldwide. Extensive cardiovascular biomarkers are available using blood tests but very few, if any, investigations have described non-invasive tests for cardiovascular biomarkers based on readily available hair samples. Here we show, first, that human hair proteins are post-translationally modified by arginine methylation (ArgMe). Using western blot, proteomic data mining and mass spectrometry, we identify several ArgMe events in hair proteins and we show that keratin-83 is extensively modified by ArgMe in the human hair. Second, using a preliminary cohort (n = 18) of heterogenous healthy donors, we show that the levels of protein ArgMe in hair correlate with serum concentrations of a well-established cardiovascular biomarker, asymmetric dimethylarginine (ADMA). Compared to blood collection, hair sampling is cheaper, simpler, requires minimal training and carries less health and safety and ethical risks. For these reasons, developing the potential of hair protein ArgMe as clinically useful cardiovascular biomarkers through further research could be useful in future prevention and diagnosis of cardiovascular disease.
Highlights
Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is still the leading cause of death in industrialised countries and is associated with enormous public health and economic costs (Virani et al 2020)
We are first to report that human hair proteins are post-translationally modified by arginine methylation (ArgMe), this is based on the recognition of hair proteins by two different antibodies specific for ArgMe, and on the analysis of mass spectrometry data
We propose that keratin-83 is one of the major proteins modified by ArgMe in the human hair
Summary
Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is still the leading cause of death in industrialised countries and is associated with enormous public health and economic costs (Virani et al 2020). Many biomarkers of cardiovascular health and disease have been developed, including B-type natriuretic peptide, markers of oxidative stress, inflammatory. Academic Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism, Hull York Medical School, University of Hull, Hull, UK mediators and metabolic biomarkers (Hirata et al 2020), among others (Adamcova and Šimko 2018). These measurements are almost always done on serum and require invasive procedures and specialised personnel, with variable assay costs
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